Nashua running back Sam Levine tries to escape Pinkerton's Bentley Blais during last Friday night's Division I clash in Derry. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

It’s finally here – the high school football postseason. Although as Nashua South coach Josh Porter alluded to a couple of weeks ago, it feels like the playoffs arrived early with the meaningful late season games.

There are five local teams playing this weekend, two playing each other. It starts with tonight’s game between Nashua South and Londonderry at Stellos, and the feature game is Nashua North vs. Bishop Guertin Saturday.

“I’m a big proponent of you want to be playing your best football as you head into the playoffs,” said Porter, whose team closed out the regular season with a stunning comeback win over Pinkerton and a rout of a good Merrimack team the week before.

Meanwhile, the area’s two defending champions, Souhegan (Division II) and Campbell (Division III) begin what they hope are long postseason runs as well.

Here’s a capsule look:

FRIDAY

DIVISION I PRELIMS

NO. 13 LONDONDERRY (3-5, 4-5 overall) AT NO. 4 NASHUA SOUTH (6-2, 7-2 overall)

WHEN: 6:30 p.m.

WHERE: Stellos Stadium.

LAST WEEK: Londonderry 14, Windham 6; South 25, Pinkerton 21.

REGULAR SEASON: Did not play.

FYI: The Lancers got three interceptions last week, two by Devin VanAvery, to get the win they needed to make the playoffs. But the Panthers have a much better passing game than the Jags with Cody Jackson throwing to his backs and a receiver like Josh Tripp, and this seems like a down year for the Lancers, who ironically eliminated the Panthers in last year’s quarterfinals. The Lancer offense is paced by back Adrian Cruz and QB Sully Daron.

THE PICK: South 35, Londonderry 13. Other than Windham, the Lancers’ two in-state regular season wins are over non-playoff teams Alvirne and Manchester Central.

SATURDAY

DIVISION I PRELIMS

NO. 12 NASHUA NORTH (4-4, 5-4 overall) at NO. 5 BISHOP GUERTIN (6-2, 7-2 overall)

WHEN: 1 p.m.

WHERE: Stellos Stadium.

LAST WEEK: Nashua North 25, Dracut (Mass.) 8; Bishop Guertin 21, Winnacunnet 14.

REGULAR SEASON: BG 51,North 27.

FYI: Guertin hasn’t scored as many points since their meeting with North back on Oct. 4. The Titans have gone 3-1 since, with that loss being vs. Bedford, and the signature win being a comeback at Portmsouth-Oyster River. The Cards had losses to Bedford and South after, then easy wins over Keene and Goffstown. But their win over Winnacunnet on the road was a quality victory. Both teams can play good defense, but the difference may be the Cards offense run by Nate Bowen with a ton of players to throw to. North will rely on its running game (Jedwin Lluveras, Kobe Perry, QB Harrison Joshi) to keep that BG offense off the field, one would think.

THE PICK: BG 35, North 21. The playoffs are tougher, but the difference of two touchdowns between these two seems consistent. Of course turnovers, penalties, etc. could always be the great equalizer.

DIVISION II QUARTERFINALS

NO. 8 ST. THOMAS (5-4) at NO. 1 SOUHEGAN (9-0)

WHEN: 1 p.m.

WHERE: Souhegan HS (Calvetti Field).

LAST WEEK: Souhegan 35, Hollis Brookline 0; St. Thomas

REGULAR SEASON: Souhegan 47, St.Thomas 14; Plymouth 42, St. Thomas 12.

FYI: The Saints are a good football team, but not at the level of Souhegan which has two of the state’s best in back Ryland Radelunas and QB Mike Fiengo. Fiengo has been injured part of the season but he ‘s been back a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, the Saints were banged up after their Plymouth game and asked for an extra day to play it Saturday rather than Friday night.

THE PICK: Souhegan 40, St. Thomas 7. On to the semis, this time at home.

DIVISION III QUARTERFINALS

NO. 6 INTER-LAKES/MOULTONBOROUGH (4-4) At NO. 3 CAMPBELL (6-2)

WHEN: 11 a.m.

WHERE: CHS in Litchfield.

LAST WEEK: Monadnock 46, Campbell 12; Laconia 21, Campbell 12.

REGULAR SEASON: Campbell 38, ILM 21

FYI: The Cougars top two offensive players, Braydon White and Brody Pinciaro dominated the regular season meeting with three TDs apiece, and they’ll have at least Pinciaro for this one. White was ejected for a verbal comment in the win over Lebanon and missed the Monadnock game, which showed. Still, the Cougars should be able to prevail either way. But they’ve lost two of their last three to end the regular season, and likely will have to go on the road for the semis unless Newport upsets Laconia.

THE PICK: Campbell 24, ILM 16. Things always get closer, it seems, in the playoffs.